General Chat

Good luck with the fundraising, and hope it all comes right for Holly.

xx

Blessxx..

Good luck in your fundraising event and hope you raise loads of money

n.

What an amazing little girl and her family too! Good luck to you in your fundraising efforts. I do hope things finally come good for Holly.

Lizx

Copied from Hollys FB page...


Holly O’Keeffe was born in Cork on December 6th 2007. In March 2009, Holly was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer called Neuroblastoma. This is an aggressive form of cancer that starts in certain types of primitive developing cells found in an embryo or foetus and is found mainly in infants and young children.
1 in 100,000 children are affected by the cancer in Ireland each year. Holly is at “Stage 4” of this cancer which means that the cancer has spread from its primary source, a tumour located above her kidney, to three other tumours located in her head.

Holly is currently undergoing a 70-day intensive course of Chemotherapy which will be followed by surgery, radiotherapy and experimental clinical trials. While Holly appears to be responding well to the treatment, doctors have given her a 30% chance of survival.

Throughout the summer months, friends and relations of baby Holly will be fundraising for Holly’s treatment programme. The many events will culminate with a Sports People Of Cork Ball on July 17th with a Family Day, Main Draw and Auction being held the following day, July 18th.

All donations will go to fund treatment for Holly; at the Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York should her treatment in Ireland prove unsuccessful. If Holly's treatment in Ireland is successful, then all money raised will be donated to Our Ladies Hospital for sick Children, Cancer Unit in Crumlin, the Cancer Unit in the Mercy Hospital Cork, and the 'Angels for Hope Foundation', which is a foundation set up to raise funds to produce a vaccine to stop the Neuroblastoma Cancer reoccurring in cancer patients.

Updates from Holly's Dad
Holly finished her 70 days of chemo. After that an MIBG scan was done. The tumors are gone from her bone and bone marrow and the primary tumor has reduced. But the tumors in her head and eyes have not reduced enough to continue her to the next stage which was surgery to remove the primary tumor. They have started her on a different course of chemo called tvd. She has to get four cycles of this chemo. She just finished her third cycle. One more to go fingers crossed. It is very tough on her. After each cycle she becomes very sick. So sick that she has to be admitted to hospital. She has got chest and kidney infections, mouth ulcers, thrush, diorreha and mucusitus. And wont eat or drink anything. She is as tough as nails. She bounces back fairly fast. So one more cycle of TVD and can move on with her protocal of her treatment. Thanks to all who sent messages. They mean an awful lot to us. Thanks Again

Hi everyone,

I have now secured a place to do a skydive in support of Holly. If anyone wants to support me/Holly in a financial way then please contact me thru GR. There is no and I mean NO pressure, obligation. To be honest we are all ''blown away'' by the emotional support, those who have experience of any illness know this means so much!

Hollys website as always is welcoming good wishes.

www.thehollyfund.com

She also has a Face Book page entitled 'Holly Fund'.

Every little helps, prayers tho are infinatley as important.

love T.x

Bless this little one, may she fight her way through this will all the love we can give her. xx. Strength to the familyxx..

Very pleased to hear Holly is doing so well and hope things get even better for her and her family.

Lizx

I am pleased to hear that Holly is out and about, keeping you, Holly, in my prayers and thoughts.
Brian(i)

Theresa. How nice for you to bump into them.
I am glad she looked happy and was smiling.
Thanks for the update.

Still sending her positive thoughts and [[[[[[hugs]]]]]]

xx

Thanks Brian,

I saw Holly yesterday with her Dad, Martin and her brother. She seemed happy and was smiley!!! I havent actually seen her for a long time so it was nice to bump into them!!

love T.x

I copied and pasted this from a previous post :-
---------------
Hollys story is on the web site I posted earlier along with a recent picture of her.

Thankyou everyone for your good wishes!

http://www.thehollyfund.com/viewpage.php?memid=3
-----------------------------
Thinking of you, Holly.
Brian(i)

Thanks for the update Theresa, and glad to hear Holly is making progress. and wishing her well.

Also to Brian for nudging this thread for me

xx

Wishing her a speedy recovery .
Brian(i)

HI everyone,

Sorry its been so long since I have updated...

OK..........

Holly is doing well so far. She had her ten lots of chemo and then had tests to see how things were going. Following those tests it was decided to give her another lot of chemo, I believe she had another 5 sessions. 2 weeks ago she had the primary tumour on her adrenal gland removed. They had to take a piece of her liver also and she was in theatre longer than expected but they think they have removed all of the primary. The hope is that the tumours that were in her brain will shrink even more now the primary has gone.

She is now getting her strength up so she can undergo a stem cell transplant. This will be quite a difficult part of the journey as she will spend a long time in isolation. The biggest problem at this time is infection so it may mean Holly doesnt actually spend any time with her brother who is rising 4 himself.

This type of cancer has a strong tendancy to re-occur so her Mammy & Daddy will always be extra vigilant.

I am seriously considering doing a parachute jump for her fund. The monies will go towards taking Holly to the states if neccessary or towards research similar to that in the USA..

love Theresa

Just seen this thread. Its so sad just hope and pray that a miracle happens

Brian Thanks for nudging this for me. I couldn't find it lol!!

Just wondered if there was an update available.

xx

nudged

I have just found this thred and have added Holly and her family to my special time each day. I wil,. say some prayers for her and be thinking of her family God Bless them all


bridget